The present invention relates to a control device for an engine, particularly to a control device for an engine, which controls an engine torque according to operation of an accelerator pedal performed by a driver.
JP2005-155412A discloses one example of such type of art, in which a target torque of an engine is set based on a state of an accelerator pedal operated by a driver, and a throttle opening and an ignition timing are adjusted to bring an output torque of the engine to the target torque. Specifically, with this art, the output torque of the engine is adjusted to increase an acceleration of the vehicle in a front-and-rear direction of the vehicle as a pressing speed of the accelerator pedal (i.e., a derivative value of an accelerator opening) increases, so as to obtain balance between an acceleration feel and vibration in the vehicle body in the front-and-rear direction.
Meanwhile, for example, when shifting a state of the vehicle from a straight-forward traveling state into a turning state (turn-in), the driver first performs a brake operation and then an accelerator operation to cause the vehicle to travel steadily. With the conventional art, when the driver switches a position of their foot from a brake pedal to the accelerator pedal, it is difficult to swiftly cause the vehicle to travel steadily, specifically, the driver tends to correct the opening of the accelerator pedal to cause the vehicle to travel steadily. Therefore, it is considered preferable that in the situation where the driver switches the position of their foot from the brake pedal to the accelerator pedal, the driver can easily and swiftly cause the vehicle to travel steadily when they perform the accelerator operation. It is considered particularly preferable to be able to cause the vehicle to travel steadily by an accelerator operation performed by the driver without any particular intention.